Prominvestbank, Nadra Bank sold?

Rumors surfaced over the last 24 hours of the pending sales of two troubled Ukrainian banks, Prominvestbank and Nadra (NADR). In a statement posted to its website late yesterday, the National Bank of Ukraine said that a 68% stake in Prominvestbank would be sold to an unnamed strategic investor. At least two prominent daily newspapers said the buyers were Andriy and Sergiy Klyuev, Ukrainian businessmen with interests in machine building and utilities. In other news, daily Ekonomicheskie Izvestia reported this morning that Dmitry Firtash, owner of several Ukrainian oil & gas enterprises, signed a preliminary agreement to buy 86.7% of Nadra Bank for up to USD 600 mln. The newspaper said the deal could be closed by the end of the week.